Suspenseful Seven-Sentence Sunday -- One Day Late!

What better way to keep you in suspense than by posting my Sunday entry a day late?

I have as good an excuse as I can come up with -- I was in the final round of a screenwriting competition. What I love about this kind of competition is that it pushes you to invent something that you might not have come up with on your own. I had fun creating some desperate characters, and I just sent in my entry a few minutes ago. Now, I want to forget about it. I've learned not to obsess about competition entries, but just to move on and get busy doing something else. Otherwise, it feels like staring at a lottery ticket until the draw date.

Last week, I revised a short story about a young girl caught in the middle of a bank robbery. She tries to imagine the robbers as something other than they are, but they're so evil that she can only see them as a different type of bad. As this scene begins, she's on the floor, hidden underneath her mother's cloak.

Each man pointed a gun at the crowd and ordered everyone not to look at them, but Esther could not resist. She lifted a corner of her mother’s cloak.

Esther watched the men stride into the bank, and with every step, their bodies transformed. Their ragged camouflage jackets became shiny green scales, their thick bodies grew wiry, their guns became thick black fingers. They were no longer men, but appeared to Esther as snakes with arms. They shimmered with evil, their heads darted furtively, yet Esther could not look away. The creatures’ eyes were dark and menacing, and venom dripped from their gold fangs.

You'll find other far more punctual Suspenseful Seven-Sentence writers at http://suspenseful7ss.blogspot.com .

The Little Victories

I'm delighted to have made it to round #2 of Cyberspace Open, a fun screenwriting competition.

Congrats to all the other semi-finalists!

CBC Short Story Competition

The CBC is asking readers to vote for their favorite opening lines of short stories in a current competition. Which story gets your vote?

7 Suspenseful Sentences Sunday

I wrote a short story called "The Curve of His Shoulder" during the Kenyon Review's Writers Workshop in 2009. (If you're a writer and have never given yourself the gift of a writing retreat, do consider it.)

The story takes place in the woods, and examines how differently two people can see one object. Matthew is a photographer from Dallas, out on a day trip. He sees a deer in the forest.

In a clearing to Matthew’s right, a young man steps out from behind a tree. Handsome, Matthew notes, tall and lean. Matthew acknowledges the man with the upward half of a nod, then points at the deer. The young man responds with an appreciative smile and a slow thumbs-up. Matthew, who craves the isolation of the West Texas hills, is now thankful for the man’s company. A pleasant smile, Matthew thought, and he is happy to share his deer with a fellow human. He focuses his camera on the deer’s profile, and zooms in so close he can see the mist of the deer’s breath on its nostrils.
A shot splits the silence. The deer’s head snaps sharply to the right as the bullet pushes its narrow skull toward Matthew.

This story will likely never be published, yet it's still one of my favorites. Do you have a story that will live only with you?

Follow this writer!

A very talented YA author I know is looking for followers for her blog. Seems that publishing houses these days place a strong emphasis on their authors' social media savvy.

Visit http://freckle-head.blogspot.com and sign up to follow.

7 Suspenseful Sentences

A story I wrote recently is about a young girl growing up in a rough section of New York who escapes into fantasy whenever the harsh realities of life catch up with her. The ghetto becomes a kingdom, her mother's tattered clothes becomes elegant robes, and the people who threaten her turn into fantastical animals.

In this scene, the young girl (Esther) and her mother (Crimson) are in a bank when two robbers enter.

The silence was shattered as two snake-like creatures entered the bank. The beasts bristled with evil, their heads darting furtively. Their eyes were dark and menacing, and venom dripped from their gold fangs. One stayed at the back of the building, while the other slithered further into the room.
Crimson pulled her daughter closer and covered her with her cloak. “Stay still, and don’t make a sound,” she cautioned. The coolness of the icy floor beneath her and the warmth of the velvet above made Esther feel like she was two different people.

I think I can relate to Esther. Part of the fun of writing is escaping from your own life briefly and creating a whole new world.

You'll find other writers' entries for Suspenseful Seven Sentences Sunday at http://suspenseful7ss.blogspot.com

Flash from My Past

I love prizes. I love deadlines. I love writing flash fiction. I enter as many competitions that feature all three of the things I love as I can find.

Today's posting features an excerpt from a story called "Stall," which got honorable mention in a competition sponsored by Gemini Magazine. The protagonist is a Russian mail-order bride, who is trying to evade the man who has brought her to America by hiding in the women's restroom in an American airport, hoping she'll miss the connecting flight to her new husband's hometown.

Suddenly, from the other side of the door, Katya heard a woman’s voice. Although she couldn’t understand what was being said, she knew from the intonation that the woman was upset. Katya peered through the crack between the cubicle door and the wall. There was a man in the restroom. Him. Katya shuffled her feet away from the door, but she was too late. He had recognized her shoes.

The whole story can be found here. I hope you will enjoy it.

Please make sure to check out the other Suspenseful 7 Sentence writers by visiting http://suspenseful7ss.blogspot.com